Posts tagged “Bun B”

…or I guess it should read, “THESE. ARE. The remixES.” If you didn’t know, I am quite fond of “the remix.” Even when it’s not quite as good as the original, it’s still refreshing to hear a good song in a different light, or from a new perspective.

First up we got a quality mashup from one of the best. The Hood Internet takes Wale’s Chain Music and throws it over some dark, whiteboy electronic instrumental courtesy of Kavinsky. Never heard of dude(?), but….diggin it.

Next we got this simple Ted Smooth remix utilizing some slowed down percussion from Biggie’s “I Got A Story to Tell” mixed in with Drake’s “Crew Love.” Pretty subtle addition, but new life nonetheless.

Lastly, we have a classic example of the hip hop remix. Whenever someone is lucky enough to snag a beat/hook like this, it’s inevitable that they’ll be at least 10-15 rappers trying to jump on that shit. The original was star studded enough with the likes of Wale, Wiz, Lupe, and Big Boi, but it just got another lift with some even NEWER schoolers (K.R.I.T., J. Cole, Kendrick) and more importantly, the REAL Mark Morrison! WHOOOOOAAAAAAAAAOOOOHHHH!

Let’s get right into it. I love where this dude e-dubble is coming from with his lyrics. I can really relate to the way of thinking. But this song really isn’t something to ride to with your boys, it’s more personal. If you dig it you dig it, if you don’t you don’t. Theres really no in between.

“They cut the arts budget, they cut creative costs
They see themselves with wrinkled faces and no Audemars
The truth hurts but we stronger for revealing it
concealing where we fucked up’s no way to deal with shit”

Now to make a quick u-turn in the lyric category, I bring you Maffew and those silly basterds from Das Racist. What can I say, I guess I understand how some artists are more appealing simply because of their beat selection…But despite the lack of congruency and content in their rhymes, the dude’s are pretty creative with the flow. I do really like this Grizzy Bear sample though.

My dude Bo put me onto Q a while back and I would like to show my gratitude by sharing some standouts from his mixtape titled Setbacks. Now, I had heard of this Schoolboy fella before the mixtape, but only as part of Black Hippy, and considered him nothing more than a sidenote to Kendrick Lamar & Jay Rock. Personally, I still put Kenkrick “light years ahead,” but like the former, Q really can spit some intelligent, hard hitting rhymes. Even though most of the content revolves around that coke game/block mentality (shockingly, I can’t relate), he delivers it in a fashion that, to me, separates himself from the Rick Ross & Young Jeezys. It’s just not as ignorant and falsely glorifying as the raps you hear from those other dudes. More importantly though, even when it is that ignorant glorifying bullshit, it’s not delivered with a simple minded, lazy ass flow. Sorry, but sometimes beat selection is confused with mic skills and I feel the need to balance shit out.
Schoolboy Q – LigHt Years AHead (Sky HigH) (ft. Kendrick Lamar)

I was actually kinda let down, again, with Chip’s latest mixtape effort. I feel like dude is lost in trying to find the balance between staying true to himself and finding fame. It’s hard to hate on dudes for that sometimes though. It’s like, even if you did have something more important to say, no one was there to hear you before you reached that next level. It’s hard to tell whether those concession are really worth it though. Maybe B.o.B and Wale can help with that question….In any event, I still found more than a couple joints I was quite fond of off Tell Ya Friends. Check out my two favorites…

Let’s see, what have we missed in the past week since my last post? Well, Take Care dropped and I am not only thoroughly impressed with the sophomore effort, but thoroughly entertained as well. I always thought Drake was at his best as an RnB artist, rather than a rapper, and this album accentuates those talents. My favorite tracks are “Crew Love”, “Buried Alive Interlude” (which btw is performed by Kendrick Lamar), “Make Me Proud”, “Doing it Wrong” & “Practice”. Also, Childish Gambino dropped his freshman effort titled Camp. I’m also really liking that one as well. Some of his lines are a little repetitive, but his perspective, as well as sound, is brilliantly refreshing. My favorite tracks are “All the Shine”, “Heartbeat”, “Les” & “Hold You Down”. Hmmm, what else. Oh yea, the “nuclear winter” of the NBA began. Players showing resolve and willingness to actually lose money in order to take a stand against owners and their unrelenting demeaning attitude of superiority along with neglect for fair bargaining has a lot of people upset and unfortunately, out of work as well. As only he can, Bill Simmons lays it out there perfectly for everyone to understand the many different perspectives and motivations at play in this labor situation with his most recent Grantland article, MUST READ CLICK HERE. Whether it turns out to be a devastating move for the players or not, I respect and support it. I’m tired of arguing my position, and frankly anything NBA related, at this point to explain it again. But fuck, I still don’t know what I’m going to do all winter without Derrick and my Bulls though. Anyway, check out a variety of rap jams you may have missed out on too….

Omen dropped his mixtape Afraid of Heights a week or so ago. If you passed it up without a second glance, take a listen to this one and you might think twice. Really liking this jazzy joint.

Another example of good music + good raps courtesy of Nas & Amy. Great collaboration of two of the most talented ever. Unfortunately, there won’t be enough unreleased music like this to keep new Amy Winehouse in our radios forever. RIP Amy.

This one’s from Nipsey’s recently released The Marathon Continues. Gotta love what the west coast has recently been producing, talent-wise, with guys like Nipsey and Kendrick Lamar to only name a couple. Great message from Steve at the end of this song.

https://whitemencantfunk.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/02-who-detached-us-feat-steve-jobs.mp3
I think I might slowly be turning into a MGK fan. That’s going too far, but I’m definitely open to the possibility upon hearing more solid material. He sounds just like a less rugged & raw version of Yelawolf. I’m pretty sure that’s a legit comparison and not just because they’re both white. Anyway, this one is off The Madden brother’s (Good Charlotte) Complex sponsored mixtape, Before Vol. 1. Surprisingly, a lot of solid artists/sounds are featured on the project. I’m not particularly a fan of the hardcore Skrillex sound at the end of this song, however.

You already know. This is a jam right here. Gotta love the southern vernacular from Jackie & Co over the soulfully smooth production provided by Krizzle himself. Some rappers got hype for days, Krit got talent for weeks….more like years.

“It’s funny what a bad mood will do.” I was in one for a few weeks and unfortunately stopped searching the blogs for great hip hop like this. You get a lil depressed and all of a sudden you get trapped in those 4 walls of your head and forget to do the shit that actually excites you. Well I’m getting back to finding those jams, and therefore back to sharing it with all of you.

This song is too real. Novel’s great on the hook and Joell, Tech, and of course Bun B da provide some real dope lyrics about getting through life/the rap game. This soulful instrumental ought to get you rockin without a doubt.

“And I don’t know what the future got for me
But looking back at my past its got to be a better story
Gotta be a pit of glory on the other side
Sweet chariot swing down, let a brother ride, tonight
I understand that the world ain’t perfect
I just wanna be sure in the end that it was all worth it
Worth the struggles, worth the troubles and the pain
All the stress on my brain, puttin my days in on the night train”

Some people claim the mixtape game killed the rap game. While I agree there is a correlation to the amount of free music via mixtapes and the decline in quality hip hop, I do not believe that it was the rise of the mixtape that caused that decline, but rather the other way around. Rap music was on its way down when people started paying more attention to album sales and what the masses admired on the radio before they decided to start providing mass amounts of free music to the real fans. Record execs started denying artists creative ability to speak from the heart over head nodding beats, because the larger population of music purchasers really didn’t get into that. But it wasn’t the overall population that was into, and that really built up, hip hop from the get go. It was a small class of people who either related to/appreciated the struggles and stories of these rappers and/or appreciated the art of dope rhyming on the mic over dope instrumentals. Then I don’t really know what happened. But it seamed like the popularity of a select few in the game who were able to make their lifestyle seem really cool to a larger majority of kids who like to party and/or wang their system and look hard, left record execs with a formula to fill with ANY artist regardless of their true strengths. This left most rappers helpless to sell the music that they really wanted to share, or that they were really meant to share, and therefor had no other choice but to share it via mixtapes for free.

On the other hand, while mixtapes and the internet have done artists like J. Cole justice by providing that medium to share the real shit on their brain, and the quality music that comes from it, it’s also gave every clown out there a platform for trying to fit that money-making mold by rapping that fake shit to try and sell an image as opposed to an art.

With that said, I give you some new J. Cole who developed a following and made a name for himself by providing the true hip hop heads with dope lyricism and realness over the past 3 years via the mixtape game. Now he has an opportunity to make some money with some (still) solid raps over dope ass beats that people/radio DJ’s better fucking buy. I’ll take the album shit and the real shit off the mixtapes, thank you very much.

You don’t even really gotta pay attention to the lyrics if you don’t want to, dude’s flow is so smooth on top of the beautiful Jamaican instrumental you gotta enjoy this jam. However, if that is the case, I have no respect for your ears. The message here is be proud of who you are. That has NOTHING to do with being ignorant and hating other people who don’t share your skin tone, religious and political views, or cultural ideals. Shit makes me sick what happened over there in Norway. And shit kinda scares me the way some conservatives talk over here about not accepting other religions or immigrants in America. That is exactly what the fuck America was built on you ignorant fucking assholes! Anyway, check the previously released dope flow over Gyptian’s jam, as well. Wale that dude.

So in making my rounds yesterday, I came up on some of that straight off the block, street talkin gospel. Speaking of coming up, Smoke DZA got himself a reeeeal nice single thanks primarily to Big K.R.I.T. I swear I’ll stop listening to rap music if K.R.I.T. doesn’t kill the rap game within the next year and half. He has literally EVERYTHING going for him. Not only can he produce some of the nicest beats in the game, but he’s got the perfect voice to provide the hook for all of them too. No way can dude fail….and I love it. Don’t forget bout Bun B da legend either.

You guys probably already know I’m really into Kendrick Lamar, but I’m also really liking the whole TDE Family group called Black Hippy. Jay Rock has been around for a while and I’ve always been impressed with his skills, but these other dudes are pretty nice too. I really like the variation in style and tone of voice between the 4 of them, which is emphasized during the 3rd verse when they go back and fourth interjecting into each others sentences without breaking stride. Check the previously released “Rolling Stone” joint using that beautiful Zombies sample from “Time of The Season” also.

Now all these instrumentals been pretty smooth, but this one takes the cake. Haven’t gotten into a lot of Millz shit, but that’s mainly cuz I don’t really like the typical hard hitting MMG shit. This beat on the other hand doesn’t take away from the lyrics. Just something to ride to with the windows down in the middle of da summer.

“Who cares about life and the highs and lows
maybe I should write another song about pimps and hoes””

Shit man, it’s about damn time I posted this shit. Sometimes I get so tied up and focused on getting that new shit, I forget to take the time to really appreciate and re-listen to that good shit just because it’s been out for a while. I criticize people for getting so caught up in the newest phones or clothes, but I do the same with music, so I guess I really need to just shut the fuck up and stop being a hypocrite. But I digress.

I think people like to know they’re not alone in the way they feel sometimes. I know I do. That’s why I appreciate artists like Big K.R.I.T. and Joe Budden because they aren’t afraid to speak their true feelings, knowing that it means so much to the people out there that might have thought they were the only ones. I’m also fascinated with psychology and the only way to understand people is to get to the core. And if people just keep that front up, you never really get to know them.

K.R.I.T uses this track to vent about some deep shit on his mind. I’m glad he did. It was nice getting to know him. I could quote so many lines in this one that make so much sense. Listen to the lyrics, and maybe you find you can relate too. If not, the rest of the songs below are straight bangers!

“Wrote a rhyme that was kind with some vision to it
Bottom line it might expand your mind if you listen to it
Too much shine can dull the soul
If you feel how I feel then I rap some mo’”

Here’s some more favorites from the mixtape. And that’s not including all the others I already posted in the past! If for some ridiculous you’re not already on this tape, go download Return of 4Eva (click to DL….now!)

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